Lavrov and his mistress holidayed with Putin's in-laws on oligarch-funded private jets

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his mistress Svetlana Polyakova repeatedly traveled abroad on luxury vacations alongside Lyubov Kabaeva — the mother of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s partner Alina Kabaeva, Agentstvo reported on Thursday, Sept. 17, citing an upcoming investigation by Proekt detailing corrupt links between top Russian officials and oligarchs.

Drawing on leaked national border-crossing records, investigative journalists established that Kabaeva’s mother, Lavrov, and Polyakova vacationed together in Croatia twice (in 2017 and 2018) and flew together to Turkiye in 2021. All trips were conducted aboard multi-million-dollar private business jets, including an aircraft routinely utilized by Evgeny Giner, president of the CSKA Moscow soccer club.

On several flights, the group was accompanied by the families of prominent Russian tycoons Vitaly Mashchitsky and Alexander Chigirinsky. Agentstvo highlighted that both the veteran foreign minister and Putin’s de facto mother-in-law maintain close personal ties with influential business elites capable of financing extravagant overseas travel.

Flight records further confirmed close personal relations between Polyakova and Lyubov Kabaeva independent of Lavrov. The two women flew together to Italy twice (in 2016 and 2018, aboard a private jet registered to Tatyana Yumasheva, the daughter of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin) and traveled to Croatia in 2019 without Lavrov. In the 2019 Croatian trip, they were accompanied by Leysan Kabaeva, the younger sister of Putin’s mistress.

Lavrov's Political Longevity

Sergey Lavrov remains the sole member of the Russian government to maintain his ministerial portfolio uninterrupted for 22 years.

Lavrov was installed as one of the primary public faces leading the candidate list for the Kremlin's United Russia party ahead of the State Duma elections commencing on Sept. 18.